Ukraine Mourns Mariupol Victims
Ukraine is holding a day of national mourning on January 25, following a series of rocket attacks in the southeastern city of Mariupol that killed 30 people and injured more than 90 others.
Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko condemned the attack as “a crime against humanity,” but he said Ukraine stands by a September peace deal signed in Minsk.
National flags were flown at half-mast and a minute of silence was observed at midday local time in memory of the victims.
Poroshenko also ordered the cancellation of sporting and cultural events on January 25.
Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said the city had been targeted on January 24 with three separate strikes by Grad rockets fired from separatist-held areas.
The rockets hit a market and a residential district.
The rebels claimed Ukrainian forces were behind the attacks.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said the rockets came from rebel-held areas.
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The attacks have prompted widespread condemnation.
U.S. President Barack Obama said his administration was “deeply concerned” about the latest violation of the cease-fire.
Speaking at a press conference in New Delhi on January 25, Obama blamed “separatists with Russian backing, Russian equipment, Russian financing, Russian training and Russian troops” for the escalation of the situation in eastern Ukraine.
Obama said he’ll keep trying to isolate Russia and he will examine options short of military conflict with Russia.
Poroshenko said on January 25 that Ukraine remains committed to a peaceful solution to the conflict that has killed more than 5,000 people since April.
Poroshenko told an emergency Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council meeting that “de-escalation” of the conflict was the priority for his government.
“We see no alternative to Minsk,” he said in reference to the Belarusian capital where the often-broken cease-fire agreement with separatist rebels was signed on September 5.
Poroshenko said EU foreign ministers would meet on January 26 to discuss the crisis and the options for increasing pressure on Russia.
The rocket assault on Mariupol came a day after rebel commander Aleksandr Zakharchenko said separatists “won’t make an effort to talk about a cease-fire.”
He was also quoted by Russia’s RIA news agency as saying separatists had launched an offensive on Mariupol on January 24.
Meanwhile in Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov — speaking to U.S. State Secretary John Kerry on January 25 — blamed the latest upsurge in violence in eastern Ukraine on Ukrainian government forces.
“Lavrov pointed out that an escalation of the situation is a result of Ukrainian troops crudely violating the Minsk agreements by constantly shelling residential settlements,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The statement also said Lavrov told Kerry Moscow was ready to do everything it can to encourage rival sides warring in east Ukraine to seek a peaceful solution to the conflict.
It said Kerry during the telephone conversation proposed to widen the group of international players trying to help peace talks between Kyiv and rebels.
Separately, Lavrov told the European Union’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini in a phone call on January 25 that Moscow wants the bloc to push Kyiv towards political dialogue with rebels.